Due out in April, this collection will feature my experimental poem "The Undertaker's Melancholy". I wrote the poem at age sixteen, and reformatted it last year after sifting through folders of my old work to see if there was anything salvageable. I saw the submission call from Villipede and immediately thought of this poem. If ever I had written anything infinitely dark, this was it. I kept the original handwritten piece—written in a red sharpie, its large angry letters revealed just as much about my state of mind at that time as the words themselves. This is the magnum opus of my youth; a dark prose poetic emblem of the angst and anguish I faced in my teenage years. I’m glad that’s behind me, but there’s no denying it’s a part of who I am today. It was the first acceptance that would lead to royalties for me, but it was also one that meant a great deal to me personally. I will never forget the feeling I had opening the email confirming I had made it to the next round of submission reviews. That final acceptance was emotional gold—the writer’s high—the euphoria nothing but an acceptance can bring. It’s what keeps us going, isn’t it? I immediately fell in love with Villipede’s mission and their obvious dedication to the craft and the creators. I saw their altruistic nature in donations to disaster relief victims and how hard they were working to bring this anthology to life with a very small team and, like most small presses, an equally small budget. I offered to help by editing a few of the pieces...and the rest, as they say, is history. I was doubly honored not just to have a piece in their first horror anthology, but to help bring Villipede’s vision of it to life. It’s taken a lot of work, but this one will be well worth the wait.

Author & Editor

﻿Sydney Leigh is the evil literary double of a mostly sane writer, editor, photographer, artist, English teacher, and native of the North Shore. Her poetry, short fiction, and reviews have appeared in numerous publications.

Her best friend is a Border Collie, and despite holding degrees in English, Psychology, and Graphic Design, she spends most of her free time doing her teenage son’s laundry and playing rock-paper-scissors with her imaginary roommate, Ted.